


Such Red Eyes

by Alania_Black



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Sentinels/Guides, The Sentinel fusion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-02
Updated: 2015-08-02
Packaged: 2018-04-12 16:03:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4485918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alania_Black/pseuds/Alania_Black
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world where Alpha 'wolves rule, Derek Hale has never felt that he fits in with his sleek, powerful family. He may have the Sentinel ability in his bloodstream, and three young bitten 'wolves as his personal pack, but his eyes have always stubbornly remained the Beta 'wolf blue - a fact that few people in his power-hungry world lets him forget.</p><p>As a mundane human, Stiles Stilinski lives a normal life unaffected by the power-plays and politics of the upper echelons, until his best friend is bitten by a rogue Alpha and suddenly werewolves and magic become a part of his life. And the deeper he gets into the mysteries of the Uncanny, the closer he gets to unlocking a part of himself he didn't know existed.</p><p>Then he meets Scott's new pack, and the notorious Derek Hale - and everything changes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Little Black Dress challenge on [Rough Trade](http://www.keiramarcos.com/roughtrade/):  
> The Sentinel is the little black dress of fandom - you can fuse it with any fandom. Write 3 stories with Sentinels/Guides in your chosen fandoms, each 10,000-15,000 words long, in 31 days during the month of July.
> 
> Notes and details about this story can be found on my LJ [here](http://earyn-black.livejournal.com/72436.html).

Stiles Stilinski was born and raised in Beacon Hills to a mundane father and a Sensitive mother. He was aware, through his mother’s experiences as a Sensitive, of the Uncanny and of the Pack that ran Beacon Hills. But his mother had always shied away from her abilities, and after her death he retreated to a purely mundane, human life and let the Uncanny fade away. 

He never regretted it, not once, until the day that he and Scott decided to go looking for a body in the woods. 

“Scott, man, I heard it on the Scanner! They think there’s an Omega in the territory and someone has gone missing. The ‘mega has to have killed him, so come on – I wanna see if we can find the body!”

Scott sighed, but gamely followed Stiles out to his truck. Stiles drove to the preserve, but hid his truck in a side street – no need to make it easy for his Dad to figure out where he was. The hiked on foot into the woods and headed towards the stream – Stiles knew that Alpha Prime Hale and her pack lived in the territory towards the East, so the most likely place for a ‘mega to go would be to the water source towards the West where it would have shelter and water with less risk of being found. 

“It was a good theory.” Scott told him sympathetically, patting his shoulder.

“It still is a good theory!” Stiles cried. Scott shook his head.

“I was a good theory _two hours ago_. Now, it’s keeping me awake when I need to be sleeping. It’s the Lacrosse try-outs tomorrow and I want to be-”

“First line this year. I know, Scotty-boy. Just ten more minutes?” He wheedled. Scott sighed, but gave in eventually. 

Twenty minutes of hiking later and plenty of whining from Scott, Stiles was about ready to turn back himself. He just turned his head to tell Scott that when he spotted them – the eyes, in the woods. Watching. He grabbed Scott’s arm to stop him and froze his own steps, unable to look away from the eyes.

“Umm, Alpha Prime… Talia Hale, right? Is… Is that you?” He asked. The only answer he got was a low, angry growl – then the eyes moved and the huge body of a fully transformed Alpha Wolf hurtled towards them. 

Every second of lessons and training on how to deal with an Alpha went out the window. Stiles panicked, Scott panicked, and they ran. 

And ran. 

And ran.

Stiles finally stopped when he fell over, rolled a few times and stopped against a tree. Nothing leapt on him and immediately tore his throat out, so he figured he was safe – but where was Scott?

Twenty minutes of terrified searching later, Stiles gave up and hurried back to his jeep. He drove slowly all the way to Scott’s house, looking out for his friend. He almost collapsed in relief when he finally spotted him two streets down, looking battered and leaf-covered but alive and whole. He stopped the jeep but before he had a chance to get out and call for Scott, the other teenager had turned around and walked towards the jeep. Scott carefully levered himself into his seat, gave Stiles an unimpressed look, and crossed his arms. 

Stiles started the jeep and drove carefully towards Scott’s house. Scott was still silent. Stiles turned onto Scott’s street. Scott was silent. Stiles pulled up outside Scott’s house. Scott was silent. 

Stiles broke. “I’m sorry, man. I didn’t know… how could I have known! I didn’t mean to…”

“To put us in the woods on our own with a crazy Alpha on our own?”

“Um, yes, that.”

“And to keep on going even after I asked us to turn back repeatedly.”

“Ah, yes.”

“And to run away when the ‘wolf chased us, abandoning me on my own.”

“What, no Scotty, you ran too! We were both running away, we ran away at the same time. You left me as well.”

“It didn’t follow you, Stiles, it followed me! It didn’t _bite_ you, Stiles!”

“It _bit_ you?!” Stiles gasped, looking Scott over. Now he was looking for it, he could see tears in the side of Scott’s top and some suspicious bloodstains.

“Yes, it knocked me over, bit me, then sniffed me and ran away.”

“Oh, Scotty. Well, maybe… maybe it will be OK. I mean, it was an Alpha but it didn’t have a Pack and it was clearly insane. Maybe the bite didn’t take?”

“Oh, it took. I can already hear and smell better – I knew you were behind me before you pulled up. And the bite is healing, it’s stopped bleeding.”

Stiles slumped and banged his head on the steering wheel. “Oh, Scott.”

“Don’t, Stiles. I… My dad’s family have the Sentinel/Guide gift sometimes. Hopefully I’ll be fine. If… If I am… turning, I’ll turn myself into the Hales tomorrow.”

Stiles swallowed down the lump in his throat and nodded. Scott smiled weakly. 

“It’s not all bad, Stiles. If I survive the bite… this could be a good thing for me. No more Asthma, at least!”

Stiles laughed softly and patted Scott’s shoulder. Scott grinned back at him, before jumping out of the jeep and running into his house. Stiles sighed – Scott was right, this was not a bad thing, but it would mean a lot of changes. 

Scott was his best friend though, and Stiles knew he would be by Scott’s side, no matter what.

* * * * * 

By the next morning, Scott had confirmed that the bite had taken – the wound was still there but it had healed quickly and his senses were expanding. He still came to school though, which Stiles decided straight away was a stupid idea.

“Look, Scotty, you and I both know that with your changes, school is just a really bad environment for you. You need to go to the Hales and get them to help you. If you lose control, they won’t care that you’re newly turned without consent – they’ll shoot first and ask questions later, especially if you do it in school after that thing last year in Columbus.”

“But I don’t want to miss Lacrosse practice!”

“Trust me, Scotty, as soon as Coach finds out you’re a ‘wolf, you’ll be on first line no matter when you tried out. You know ‘wolves are always first line.”

Scott sighed and nodded, and went to sign out sick. Stiles lasted all of ten minutes into his next lesson before he signed out sick as well and went to track Scott down. 

Which wasn’t as hard as the thought – Scott was stood outside the school, talking to a cute girl with long brown hair. She flipped her hair and gave Scott a sweet smile. Scott grinned back, then looked up and spotted Stiles. Stiles raised his eyebrow and Scott smiled sheepishly. The girl looked over at Stiles then back to Scott, who made his excuses and moved away. Just in time, as well – the Principal walked out of the school to speak to the girl just as they pulled out. 

“Her name is Allison. She’s a new student, they just moved here.”

“Ok.” Stiles replied disinterestedly. Scott carried on regardless. 

“Allison, such a cute name for a cute girl. Do you think she thought I was cute, Stiles?”

“Of course she did buddy.” He said absently. 

“Stiles, come on, do you think she thought I was cute?”

Stiles ignored him as he pulled up at the Hale house. He jumped out of his jeep, and Scott followed, still whining. Eventually he gave up. “Yes, Scott, I’m sure she thinks you’re cute. Just like a little puppy dog.”

Scott started smiling, but wrinkled his nose at the end. Suddenly he stilled and his head tilted. Stiles looked in the direction he had been looking to find a scary-looking guy standing on the Hale porch with his arms crossed and his face set for eyebrows of doom. 

“Really,” he said to Scott. “You turned up unannounced and brought a _human_ that likes to tell dog jokes. Great.”

He turned around and walked back into the house, his face still set in a flat frown. 

A few moments later, Scott gasped angrily. 

“He said I can come in… but my _pet_ has to go home.”

“He means me, doesn’t he.” Scott’s mouth twisted unhappily, but he nodded. “Seriously, that’s just-”

“It’s his house, Stiles, and I need him. Please, just, I’ll call you later and tell you everything.”

Stiles crossed his arms and glared, but eventually gave in. “You better tell me _everything_ Scott, I mean it.” He looked back at the house and grumbled “asshole!” He sincerely hoped the mountain man posing as a werewolf in there heard him. 

With one last sad glare at Scott, Stiles jumped back into his jeep and drove away. He wasn’t happy but Scott needed this so, for the time being, Stiles would let him have his time with the ‘wolves. For now.


	2. Chapter Two

Stiles went straight to Scott’s house after leaving him in the woods – there was no point going back to school when he was already going to be reported to his dad as going off sick, especially with double chemistry this afternoon with Harris. He spent an hour or so studying dutifully, before he got bored and started flipping through Scott’s games. Eventually he grabbed one of his PlayStation games and spent an hour gleefully destroying Scott’s high scores.

He heard Scott’s car pull up and slipped into the shadows behind the doorway. He pounced on Scott the second he walked in, leaping at him and aiming to wrap his arms and legs around the other boy. It was a game they played sometimes, one Stiles had always won. Except this time Scott twisted away from him without looking and flipped around to catch Stiles’ body, using his own momentum to take him down and pin him. Stiles whooped excitedly, rolling over when Scott sat back and laughing gleefully at the stunned pleasure on the other boy’s face. 

Woo, mad skills, bro! You’re already rocking those ‘wolfy powers!” Scott laughed sheepishly and rubbed a hand over his hair, suddenly very much the puppy Stiles had always known. “So how did it go? What did Alpha Hale say? You promised to tell me everything!" Stiles bounced up and flopped down on Scott’s bed, before looking up with Scott with his wide eyed ‘I’m listening’ face. Scott grimaced at him, before his irrepressible smile came back.

"It went fine Stiles, although Alpha Hale wasn't actually there. It was just her Beta, Derek." Stiles’ mouth dropped open.

"Derek. As in Derek Hale, basketball champion, Homecoming King, superstar architect, Beacon Hills' most eligible bachelor, Derek Hale? That... That rude mountain man was _Derek Hale_?" He interrogated excitedly.

"I'm surprised you didn't recognise him, you practically stalked him when he was a senior." Scott replied. Stiles huffed, affronted.

"We never talk about that, Scott. Lydia is my Queen, my Goddess, my future wife. My temporary... insanity over _him_ should never be spoken of again – you did a pinkie swear, Scott. You don’t go back on a pinkie swear!” He glared. Scott rolled his eyes and muttered a half-hearted apology. Stiles decided it was enough, but shot him a suspicious look anyway. “Besides, the last time I saw him was two years ago and he didn't look like... that. And isn't he still supposed to be in Stanford?"

"Of course you’re completely over him and no longer stalking him like a mad… stalker… Stiles. Never mind that you knew exactly where he was up until two days ago. But anyway, Derek was home and he's the one that was there. Everyone else was hunting the Alpha.

"He said that I would have to go back tonight with my mum, for now I just have to stay home and avoid things that raise my heart rate."

"That's it? You were there for ages, is that all he said?"

"Well he looked at the bite and made me test some of my senses. My hearing, sight and smell are better but they aren't at the 'wolf level yet. He said that it doesn't look like I'm rejecting it yet but to call him immediately if something wrong with me as well."

"As well, that's what he said?"

"Yeah. Well, he actually said ‘call me if you think you’re rejecting. I won’t be able to save you but at least let me know’."

"He said that? What an asshole!” Stiles cried. Scott shrugged, it wasn’t like everyone didn’t already know that rejecting the bite would kill. Stiles sighed and brushed it off. “Oh my God, you know what this means, Scotty? The missing person! It wasn't an Omega attack, was it? The missing person was bitten by the same Alpha as you. They must have rejected it and died."

"Died?” Scott moaned. He looked up at Stiles with scared eyes. “Will I die?" Stiles ruffled his hair and shook his head.

"Of course not, buddy! You're fine, you are turning fine. Don't worry about it, Ok? I heard that worrying about it just makes it worse."

Scott glared at him for the unhelpful advice, but eventually he just nodded. “Fine, you’re right I guess.”

"What do you need, Scott?" Stiles asked after a few minutes. Scott shrugged.

"Nothing right now. I’m really tired, I think I just want to nap.” Stiles nodded, that made sense. Between the huge wound on Scott’s side and the wholesale changes taking over his body, Stiles would be surprised if he wasn’t exhausted.

"Do you want me to stay with you?" He asked. They hadn’t napped together since they were little kids, but he was just realising the huge changes going on in Scott’s body and how close he was to dying. He didn’t want to leave Scott on his own right now – he couldn’t help but remember what it was like when his Mum… he hadn’t wanted to leave her, either, just in case he couldn’t go back. 

Scott hesitated then shook his head. His face was torn between a desire to say ‘yes’, and a strange new anxiety.

"No, I don't want to risk hurting you if I get restless in my sleep or something."

Stiles rolled his eyes at the other boy, kicked off his sneakers and crawled onto the bed. “I doubt that you are going to wake up in your sleep and suddenly decide that I look like a tasty little snack and tear me to pieces with your werewolf teeth, Scott. Besides, you know your mum would be pissed, I’m definitely her favourite.” 

Scott scoffed at him, but grinned and joined him a few seconds later on the bed. They snuggled down on the bed, arranging limbs and pillows for comfort, and closed their eyes for a nap. 

"Hey Stiles," Scott whispered, "I'm a werewolf, how cool is that?"

Stiles grinned, but carefully bashed a pillow over Scott’s face. “Sure buddy, you’re totally badass now.”

* * * * * 

They were woken up a few hours later when Melissa McCall got home, calling out her customary greeting to them both. They were both a bit sleepy and muddled when they woke up, and didn’t realise she was coming upstairs until she was stood in the doorway to Scott’s bedroom, looking at them both. 

“I don’t want to know why Scott faked sickness and skipped out of most of the school day and I come home to find the two of you in bed together, do I?”

Stiles laughed, Scott groaned and made a face at her.

“Actually, mum, I didn’t skip out of school. I… Can we talk?”

Her face changed from teasing to solemn and welcoming in a heartbeat, and she sat down in Scott’s computer chair, ready to listen. It was something Stiles admired about her and was secretly a little jealous of Scott over – she was still wearing her hospital scrubs, exhaustion over the long day showing in her face and the way she had just scraped her hair up. But despite that, and all the other worries she must have as a single mother, she loved her son so much and was completely ready to be there for her son. 

Stiles had his dad, and he loved him, but he missed him mum fiercely sometimes. 

Scott sat up in the bed, and Stiles pushed himself out. He was about to make his excuses and leave, but Scott just shot him a look. 

“No, Stiles, you can stay here and help explain some of this.”

“Aww, Scotty… I think this is a conversation for you and your mum, I don’t think you need me here…”

“Stiles, sit.” Scott’s mum snapped and pointed at the bed. Stiles flopped sullenly back down. 

They sat in silence for a few minutes, both Stiles and Melissa watching Scott. He didn’t seem to have a clue what to say, and just kept starting to speak and breaking off. Stiles finally reached the limits of his endurance after a few minutes, and snapped. 

“Ok, so here’s the think, Mrs McCall, Scott and I were… practicing Lacrosse last night in the Preserve, and we were attacked by a rogue Alpha wolf that chased us and bit Scott. He went to the Hales’ today, which is why he called off sick, and Derek Hale told him that he’s turning into a Werewolf and he has to go back tonight, with you, to see Alpha Hale.”

“Stiles!” Scott cried. Stiles shrugged. 

“What, Scott? You’ve got somewhere to be tonight, we didn’t have time for you to spend an hour stuttering out the word ‘Werewolf’.” 

“Stiles, that’s enough.” Melissa looked at Scott, and for a moment the full weight of her love and worry and motherhood seemed to be pressing down on her. “Scott, is this true, or just a prank. To be clear, I’m not an idiot, that whole part about Lacrosse practice was probably the worst lie Stiles has come up with since he tried to convince me a racoon broke in and stole the brownies last year. But the rest of it?”

Scott nodded. “Yeah, mum. I… my senses are starting to change and Derek says I’m turning.” He tugged up his shirt to expose the bandage on his hip, and carefully peeled away the medical tape. The bite mark was still clearly visible but it was faded and down to little more than a scar, it looked weeks old. 

“Oh, Scott. What am I going to do with you?”

“Well, Derek said I should bring you with me tonight. As the human parent of a Pack-member, you would also have a place in the Pack. He said that the Alpha that turned me probably wouldn’t last long, and that I should talk to Alpha Hale about finding a place in the Pack.”

“Ok.” She said, and raised a shaking hand to tug at her hair. “Ok, we can deal with this. My son is just a different species to me, that’s fine, I can cope.” She looked at Scott then. “You know… your dad has the gene. He was born human but his mum and several of his cousins are all wolves. We thought maybe you would be born as a ‘wolf, or at least be a Sentinel yourself. His family might, I mean, they’re high up in their Pack. You could…” she broke off, clearly in too much pain to finish the statement. Scott shook his head fiercely. 

“I’m not leaving you mum. Especially not to go live with _him_ , he abandoned us! And his mum was horrible to me because I was human. I don’t want to be part of her Pack.” He sighed. “The Pack here is established and gets on well with the humans, everyone knows that there are humans in their Pack structure. I think I’ll be fine here, so long as Alpha Hale accepts me.” She nodded, but Stiles realised there were tears in her eyes seconds before she pulled Scott into a hug. 

Sensing his part here was done, Stiles slipped out. He sent Scott a message from his jeep to call him the second he’d met with the Pack and tell him how it went. HE pulled into the driveway and home and strode in, only to find his dad sat at the table in his uniform, clearly waiting for him. 

“Stiles, son, how about you take a seat and tell me why the school sent you home because you were ‘suffering extreme bouts of vomiting and explosive diarrhoea’, but you haven’t actually been home even though the school day ended two hours ago?” 

Stiles gulped, but took a seat at the table and prepared to tell his dad what had happened. 

Predictably, he didn’t believe they were at Lacrosse practice any more than Melissa had.

“What’s going to happen to Scott now?” his dad asked. Stiles shrugged. 

“I’m not sure, but he seems to be turning without a problem and he’s been invited to meet with Alpha Hale. Hopefully she will give him a place in her Pack.”

“He’ll need one, he’s an Omega now.”

“The Alpha that turned him…”

“Alpha Hale eliminated the threat to her territory, yes. I recorded it at the precinct this afternoon, and the Emissary informed the Council. Technically, since Alpha Hale destroyed her rival and took his powers, Scott is now part of her Pack anyway. But at this stage the bond is fragile and if she thinks he’d be a threat to the Pack or might disrupt the hierarchy, she could still chose to end it and expel him from the territory. Having said that, I know Alpha Hale fairly well through the department, and I think Scott is in good hands with her.”

“What about… I heard there might be other victims?”

“The Alpha bit someone else, a young woman. She was from a purely mundane family.” Stiles nodded his understanding. Mundane humans could take the bite, but they had a much higher rejection rate than those, like Scott, who already had some Uncanny blood.

“She rejected the bite?”

“That’s what her father said.” His dad hesitated a second, then said “he shot her. He said she’d started rejecting the bite and he wanted to spare her the pain. He was arrested, but in previous cases like this, they don’t tend to go to court.” Stiles frowned at his dad. 

“You say that like you don’t believe him?”

“There are some families, Stiles, who are purely mundane for a reason. Some humans who are afraid of the Uncanny, who don’t think ‘wolves should have the power they do. Some of them become hunters, and others just mutter and fester hatred privately. That girl didn’t look like she was rejecting the bite, it was healing well. I’ve ordered an autopsy, but between her father’s attitude about ‘wolves and what I saw of her bite, I think I already know what it will show.”

“You think she was turning and he killed her because of it?”

“Yes, I do.” 

“That’s… that’s horrible.” Stiles said. “I can’t believe someone would kill their child because…” He thought back to Melissa, the way she had just pulled Scott into a hug, how much she had loved him unconditionally. He couldn’t imagine his own dad would have reacted any differently if he’d been the one bitten. 

His dad shook his head and pulled him into a hug. 

“It wasn’t what I’d hoped for when we went looking for her yesterday.” He sighed. “But I will do everything in my power to get justice for her.”

Stiles nodded into his dad’s shoulder and tightened the hug for a moment before letting go. 

“I think I’m gonna just go upstairs and do some studying.” He said. His dad nodded. 

“Yeah, you better. I’ll be taking your games console and your DVDs, you’re officially grounded for the next, oh, lifetime or two.”

“What? Dad!”

“What? Stiles!” His dad mocked. “You dragged your friend to the woods in the middle of the night and got him bitten by a werewolf, not to mention that you must have been listening into my calls again – when I specifically told you to stop doing that – to know what was going on. I don’t believe for a second that it’s a coincidence that you were in the woods when we were looking for a missing girl and a werewolf.”

Stiles whined but he couldn’t really argue with that. He slumped upstairs and cracked open his laptop to study, glad his dad had at least left him his phone so he could find out from Scott how it went. 

* * * * * 

How it went was summed up in one text message at 11 that night: “everything fine, speak tomorrow”. 

Stiles could kill him. He really could. Tomorrow. 

He jumped into his jeep the next morning earlier than normal and stuck tightly to the speed limit the whole way to Scott’s house. He pulled up five minutes before Scott was supposed to leave for school, and beeped him when he left the house. Scott looked up, smiled wearily and headed over to climb into the passenger seat of the car. 

“So? Come on Scott that message last night was ridiculous!”

“It went fine, Stiles. I spoke to Alpha Hale, she asked about my school, about my job at the vets, asked me how I got bit, asked me about you and about my relationship with my father. Then she said that she killed the Alpha that turned me and that she was now my Alpha, if I was happy to accept her. I said I was and she transformed and howled. I howled with her, so did the rest of the Pack, and we were bonded.”

“Oh. I thought it would be more… naked running through the woods or something.”

“Your fantasies are really worrying, you know that, Stiles?”

“I know. So what happened then?”

“Well, then she told me the bad news. She wants me to be in Derek’s Pack.”

“Derek? But he’s not an Alpha. Is he? Has he found a Guide?”

“No. He’s a Beta, but he has Alpha potential. You know Laura took up with her own Pack in Beacon Valley, but she still reports to Talia as her Alpha Prime? Basically they gave Derek some Betas and put them under his control as a Pack for when he finds his Guide.”

“Well that’s not a bad thing, Derek is a good guy and I bet he’ll be a good Alpha for you. Beta. Whatever.”

“Yeah, he said we were brothers now. He said I could go to him for anything and he would help me. His Pack also includes Erica Reyes – you remember they gave her the bite a few years ago when her epilepsy got bad?” Stiles nodded, “and Vernon Boyd, his Dad’s a ‘wolf and he took the bite when he was sixteen to join the Pack. And then there’s Isaac Lahey.”

“Lahey? Jackson’s foster brother?”

“Yeah. He took the bite and they put him in Derek’s Pack. They were going to offer it to Jackson, too, but they decided to leave him in his father’ s Pack since he would be the next head of the Pack.”

“Ugh, that means your pack mate is my dad’s boss’ foster son.”

“Yeah, sorry buddy.” Scott said, but he was grinning. “But Isaac’s cool. He’s really sweet but a bit sarcastic – kinda like you but nice.”

“Hey, I’m nice!” Stiles protested.

“Well, then, nicer.” Scott said.

“Thank you. So, they sound… Ok, I guess.”

“The Pack is fine. It’s just…” He trailed off, and winced. He looked miserable, a look Stiles realised had been sitting just behind his eyes since he got in the car. They were just pulling into the school, so Stiles pulled up and parked, before turning to his friend. 

“Scott, come on man, you’ve been looking miserable all morning. The Pack have accepted you, you’ve got a Pack of good people who seem to be nice and about your age and were all bitten ‘wolves as well, so they’ll be able to help you get used to being a ‘wolf. So what’s the problem?”

“Derek!” Scott exploded finally, “Derek is my problem. He said…” Scott trailed off.

“Scott! What did he say?”

“He said that he thought I should stop being friends with you!” Scott finally burst out with. Stiles flopped back in his seat in shock. 

“He said what?”

“He said that you… he said I should stop hanging out with you, that you had a bad attitude about the Uncanny and that you might make it harder for me to adjust to being a ‘wolf. He said that he thought I should focus on building my relationships with the Pack instead.” Scott looked frantically at Stiles. “Stiles, listen to me. I told him to forget it, ok? I told him that if he wanted me in his Pack, that you were part of the deal. I mean, I’ll hang out with them, I like his Pack and I want them to be my friends, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop being your friend!”

“It’s ok, Scott. We’re blood brothers, remember? You’re not getting rid of me that easily!” He joked. Scott kept looking at him for a few minutes, so Stiles concentrated on swallowing down his devastation that Derek said something like that about him. Scott seemed to buy it, because he finally relaxed and grinned. 

“Yeah, right man. I knew I could count on you, Stiles.”

Stiles grinned back and followed Scott into the school, trying to put the thoughts out of his mind. 

It almost worked until he began to feel a creeping sensation down his spine. He hesitated on the steps up to the school and looked over his shoulder, wondering what it was he was feeling. He was about to brush it off as just an odd feeling, until his eyes caught a dark shape on the other side of the car park. 

Derek Hale was standing there, leather-clad arms crossed across his chest, glaring angrily at Stiles. Stiles caught his eyes for a second, before his own face narrowed into a glare and he turned around, deliberately giving Derek his back as he walked into the school.


	3. Chapter Three

Derek Hale was following him. 

Stiles wasn’t too sure about it at first, but it had been three days now since the morning he was referring to (in his head) as friend-gate. At first, he’d thought maybe Derek was keeping an eye on his Pack, especially the newest addition – when he’d seen him out the windows at school, at the end of the field at Lacrosse practice. 

But Stiles was just loading the groceries into his jeep for dinner – alone – when he caught the now familiar dark shadow in the corner of his eye. He watched for a moment before returning to his groceries, but it was enough. Derek Hale was definitely watching him.

He put the trolley away and came back to his jeep – and almost leapt out of his skin when he realised Derek was leaning up against his door. He wanted to ignore him, to walk around him and pretend he didn’t exist, but there was no way he could do that when the other man was blocking his door. He scowled. 

“What do you want?” He sighed, crossing his arms. 

“I want you to stay away from Scott. He has a lot to learn and I don’t think it’s a good idea for him to be around someone like you.”

Stiles’ mouth dropped open in shock and he stared for a moment, speechless. He flailed a hand at Derek and snarled. 

“Tell me that you didn’t say something so stupid to Scott again!” He growled. He noticed with surprise that Derek’s cheeks went a little pink. 

“He didn’t… respond well.” He gritted out. Stiles snorted. 

“No shit. How dare you! Scott and I have been best friends since we were kids, man. You can’t just come in here and tell him ‘you’re a werewolf now, I’m in charge so I’m going to isolate you from all of your friends and make you spend your time with my group’. Dude, that’s pretty much cult-101 behaviour.”

“Don’t call me dude.”

Stiles rolled his eyes. 

“Look, Scott and I are friends, best friends. You can glare, and follow me around, and look at me like you’re thinking of tearing me limb from limb, it doesn’t matter. We’ll always be friends. And if you want Scott to stay in your Pack, you need to get over this whatever it is that you’re doing now. Because you keep this up he will just walk away from you, and we both know that he _needs_ to be part of a Pack.”

Stiles glared at Derek. Derek frowned back at him, eyes furrowed. Eventually he moved away from Stiles’ door slowly, and nodded just once. Stiles rolled his eyes, wrenched the door open, jumped in and drove away. He glanced in his rear-view mirror on his way out of the lot. Derek was still just standing there, glaring after his jeep. 

He made it two blocks away before the anger and hurt overwhelmed him and he had to pull over until his hands stopped shaking. He slammed his fists into the wheel once, and slumped in his seat. He was so stupid – why was he so taken by Derek, when the other man clearly hated him?

Not that it mattered really. Derek was twenty-three, he was the son of the Alpha Prime in the region, one of the strongest Sentinels recorded anywhere in the US and the strongest recorded female Sentinel every. He had finished a Bachelors in Architecture in only four years, and had spent the time interning at a company that had designed and implemented building low-cost, easy construction houses in countries like Nigeria. Derek himself had been credited with a design feature that allowed the roof supports to hold small solar panels to provide free energy in the homes as well. 

The only reason Derek was even still a Beta – albeit an Alpha-potential – was that he hadn’t yet found a compatible Guide. 

He would have no interest in a skinny, mouthy, mundane seventeen year old anyway. 

But that didn’t stop Stiles from feeling hurt by the man’s clear distain for him, or upset that he had tried to damage Stiles’ friendship with Scott. Scott needed Derek and his Pack to help balance his senses, and a small part of Stiles was afraid that, if Derek really demanded it, Scott might decide to turn away from Stiles to keep the safety and protection that Derek’s pack was offering him.

* * * * * 

If Derek Hale had become an untouchable subject between Stiles and Scott in the four days since Scott joined Derek’s Pack, the rest of his Pack were completely different. The three other members of Derek’s Pack, all Seniors at Beacon Hills High as well, had gone out of their way to get close to Scott. And all three of them had been more than happy to draw Stiles in as well.

It had started in on the first day, in Biology, with Isaac Lahey sliding into the seat next to Scott and smirking at Stiles. It took a few seconds for him to realise that it was more of a ‘hello’ than an ‘I am better than you puny mortal’, but with a flavour of ‘yes I can rip your throat out with my teeth if I want to’. 

Isaac’s smirks were an interesting language. It almost made up for the fact that he had not said a single word to Stiles in the last four days. But Siles understood what Scott meant, the other boy was surprisingly sweet for all that he was a sarcastic little shit. Stiles wasn’t sure what had happened to him when he had become Mayor Whittemore’s foster son at the age of twelve, but he had a feeling that at least part of Isaac’s behaviour was a result of that.

Erica Reyes was totally catwoman, Stiles had decided. She had sashayed up to them in Chemistry and promptly declared Stiles her lab partner. She was brilliant and funny and sexy as hell, but there was nothing between them but friendship, Stiles had realised quickly. It was nice, actually, he could already tell they were going to grow to be good friends, if Derek didn’t decide to randomly ban her from seeing him as well. And while she looked like a vixen, her Guide aura was full of sweetness and empathy.

Stiles secretly – and not so secretly – adored Erica’s boyfriend. Boyd was the epitome of a ‘wolf – he was strong, and calm, but underneath he was a powerhouse that would deal swiftly and without mercy with any threat to the tribe. Boyd also clearly adored Erica, and he had slipped seamlessly into their group whenever they shared a class, or at their lunch breaks. 

Scott and Stiles had gone from mostly invisible members of the Lacrosse team bench to some of the most popular kids in their school in the last four days. As well as suddenly being clearly linked to Derek Hale’s Pack, Scott’s new status as a ‘wolf brought him fame both as the natural popularity of _being_ a ‘wolf and the fact that everyone wanted to know the story. And with his new Packmate being Jackson Whittemore’s foster brother, they were now being subjected to their lunch table being invaded by Jackson, Lydia Martin and Danny Mahelani. 

The new girl Scott had spoken to the day after he was bitten, Allison, had joined them on the first day as well. She had been sweet and warmed easily to Scott, and he had been quite thrilled by her attention. But she had gotten extremely uncomfortable when she’d realised Scott was a ‘wolf, especially when Erica had slinked into a seat at the table and smirked at her. She hadn’t been back since. 

* * * * * 

If Stiles had hoped that the altercation between them at the grocery store had finally driven Derek off, he would have been disappointed. The older man was still following him, and he wasn’t even attempting to be subtle any more. It was driving Stiles crazy. 

Two days passed, then Stiles got home from school to find Derek loitering on his doorstep. He ignored him, unlocked the the house and walked inside. He had been hoping to shut the door and lock Derek out, but by the time he had tugged his keys out of the door and started to swing it shut, Derek had slipped past him into the house and made himself comfortable at the kitchen table. Stiles stared at him incredulously, but Derek just looked at him blankly. 

Shrugging, beyond bemused, Stiles dropped his bag by the door and went to the fridge for a soda. He contemplated offering Derek one, but just lingered in the open fridge doorway instead. At least there was a good chance that his dad would come home soon – surely Derek wouldn’t kill him in the Sheriff’s house, right? 

Right. 

He was unnaturally silent for a while. He was a talker, always had been – he learned to talk at nine months and, as his mother said, never learned how to stop. But he couldn’t think of anything to say at all – his childish crush on Derek was warring with the new fury and hurt that wishes-he-was-Alpha-Hale had tried to ban Scott from seeing Stiles. 

“You’re not what I expected.” Derek finally said to his back, Stiles’ head still buried in the fridge. 

“What?” Stiles asked, jerking up and turning around. He was stunned that their mutual silence had been broken. 

“I’ve seen you around, I know you’re sarcastic and don’t put up with people. When you were with Scott that day and you made a dog joke as well… I didn’t think you’d be the best person to be around Scott. Mundanes… some mundanes think we’re nothing better than base animals, and they use our nature as an excuse to do horrific things.”

Stiles remembered the girl who died. But then he thought of the haunted look in Isaac’s eyes – a look put there by his human father when he had been a human child. 

“People use anything as an excuse. It doesn’t mean anything – it doesn’t mean you’re base, or an animal. That’s just the excuse people use.”

“I know that.” Derek growled. He looked pissed off, and it was irritating Stiles. 

“Look, what do you want here? You told Scott to stay away from me. I know Scott told you that’s not going to happen. You warned me away and I told you that was never going to happen either. Are you going to threaten me next?”

“I’m trying to apologise!” Derek growled. Stiles stopped his frantic flailing, stunned. 

“What?”

“Look, I made a mistake.” It sounded like the words were being physically dragged out of Derek. “I remember you, you know? You were only, what, eleven when I was a Senior? But you used to watch me all the time, like you were afraid I was going to suddenly snap one day and murder people. I thought your dad was telling you stories that made you scared of ‘wolves.”

“I wasn’t staring at you!” Stiles exclaimed, blushing bright red. Derek just raised an eyebrow that plainly said he could hear Stiles lying. “Well, I was but… I wasn’t scared of you. I’m not scared of you and even if I was, I could never be scared of Scott!”

Derek watched him for a moment, then nodded. “I believe you. But even then… I heard you calling Scott a puppy. I thought you were like… There are people in the world who are not kind about werewolves. Who call us things like ‘dog’ and ‘puppy’ and think it means they can treat us like a pet or a tool.” For a moment, there was a look in Derek’s eyes that was so… haunted, Stiles just wanted to go to him and provide comfort.

“I’ve always called Scott a puppy. It’s a thing. I didn’t mean it like…” Stiles trailed off numbly. 

“I know that you wouldn’t hurt Scott. I know you’re supporting him. I just thought – I’ve seen it happen before. A newly turned ‘wolf is vulnerable, and I’ve seen people do things. I can’t even – Scott’s my first Beta. I knew I would get Erica, Boyd and Isaac when I came home, we’ve been talking for a while, but Scott was the first one I actually bonded to and he’s the newest. The others already got their training from my Pack. I’m overprotective of him and I made a mistake.”

Derek had never been a talker, so Stiles appreciated that he was trying. And he understood, a bit. He knew that Scott could be easily affected by his emotions at the moment, and he could see how that could be dangerous for him. 

“I think we both want the same thing here.” Stiles said finally. “We both want Scott to be safe, and to adapt to being a werewolf easily. I don’t see why we have to be enemies in this.”

“Allies, then?” Derek said. Stiles nodded. Derek grunted, nodded to him, and walked out. 

“That wasn’t actually an apology, you know.” He called after him. The front door slammed shut. “Like I don’t know you can still hear me, Sourwolf!” He yelled, but let it go. 

He finished putting away the last of the groceries as an excited little flutter happened in his stomach. Now that they had put their animosity aside, he was hit by the realisation that _Derek Hale_ had been in his house. He grinned, and hurried upstairs to call Scott and tell him. 

* * * * *

If Stiles had though that the almost-apology and decision to become allies would mean that Derek would stop following him, he would have been mistaken. If anything, the werewolf had become even more obvious about it over the last couple of days. 

He would have been annoyed, but it was Derek’s lurking presence that saved Stiles’ life, in the end. 

He had been practicing his Lacrosse moves on the field waiting for Scott to finish his last period, when he heard a low rumbling growl. He looked up in time to see the yellowed eyes of an Omega standing at the edge of the Lacrosse pitch, staring at him. Stiles was aware of everything, in one second – the stick in his hand, the breeze on his face, the sound of students in the classrooms only a short distance away. The complete futility of trying to run. 

He ran anyway, panicking when he heard the Omega chasing him. They drew closer and closer, rapidly outpacing him no matter how hard Stiles tried to speed up. He was certain he was about to be ripped to pieces, when he heard a sudden yelp, then a horrific crunch and a loud howl. He turned to look, and just managed to get a glimpse of Derek – of course – before he stumbled in his forward momentum and went flying into the ground. 

His arm was on fire, he decided, that was the only way to explain the pain. And he was certain he was loosing blood rapidly from the gashes in his legs. That was the only explanation for the way he limply allowed Derek Hale to carry him to his jeep and dump him in the passenger seat. 

“What about the ‘mega?” He asked, when Derek jumped in the driver’s side and started driving him onwards. 

“I broke both his arms, his leg and his back. He’ll heal, but slower than a Pack wolf, he won’t be moving for a while. I signalled my mum, she’s gonna get him and deal with him. She was already on the edge of the preserve when we left.”

“Will she kill him?”

“It depends – you ran away from him, which provoked his prey drive. He’s practically feral. But in a Pack, with time, he might recover. He’s never killed anyone – his eyes are yellow. If his eyes were blue, or if she thinks even a Pack won’t help him recover, she will kill him. Better her than the hunters – they like to experiment on Omegas to find out more about us before they kill us.”

Stiles swallowed back his horror at the thought and nodded. He was still cradling his arm to his chest, and Derek noticed. 

“Is it hurting badly?” He asked. Stiles nodded. He then watched in bafflement as Derek released the wheel with one hand and reached over to take Stiles’ hand. Stiles’ mind was so busy running in circles of ‘he’s holding my hand, Derek Hale is holding my hand’, that he didn’t notice the paid draining away for a moment. 

He watched in fascination as black lines ran up Derek’s arm, seeming to carry away all his pain. It was sheer bliss. Not just the lack of pain, but something else, the feeling of Derek around him, centring him mind and filling him up. For a few moments it was the most peace he had ever known.

His happy feeling vanished when Derek pulled up – but not to the hospital, where Stiles expected to be taken. 

“You brought me to a vet?!” He squeaked. Derek shrugged and got out, coming round to help Stiles out of the jeep. Stiles just stared at him incredulously until Derek dragged him into the surgery.

“Deaton!” He called roughly. He walked up to the wooden bar separating the waiting area from the surgery, and stopped patiently. 

A few moments later, a man who could only be an Emissary appeared. He ran his gaze over both Derek and Stiles, before raising his eyes to Derek. “You don’t look hurt and neither of you have a pet with you, so I’m not sure why you’re coming to me. You should take the boy to the hospital.”

Derek’s face twisted at the thought, and for a second Stiles thought of the overwhelming smells of antiseptic and death, the mourning cries of family, kids like him watching helplessly as their mothers died in front of their faces…

He could understand why Derek might not like hospitals, in the end. 

Deaton was watching him intently, Stiles realised, then the man carefully pulled up the plank that served as a makeshift barrier to the back rooms, and let them past. Stiles felt a shiver pass over his skin as he walked through, shock finally setting in. 

Deaton examined him carefully, prodding his arm and carefully cleaning away the dirt from his grazed knee. It wasn’t as bad as it had felt to start with, something Stiles had known even then. Finally he walked away and came back with an ice-pack for his arm. 

It’s just a mild sprain, use the ice for now and rest it for a few days.”

“Are you sure, don’t you have to do an x-ray or something?” Stiles asked. Deaton just looked at him. 

“Are you going to _pay_ for the x-ray, Stiles?”

“Umm, no?” He replied, thinking of his empty bank account. Deaton nodded. 

“I’m sure it’s a sprain. I may not be qualified to treat humans but I’ve seen my fair share of injuries from this lot.” He waved towards Derek, who shrugged. 

“You mean… you treat the ‘wolves? Aren’t you a vet? And Scott’s boss?”

“Yes, I am all those things. I am also an Emissary and support for the local ‘wolf pack. Mundane doctors rarely know how best to treat ‘wolves, so it tends to be left to the Emissaries to make sure they are healing well.”

Stiles laughed incredulously. “So basically, Derek panicked and took me to his doctor?”

“Well yes. His instinct was to take you to someone who could help you. I’m flattered that to his mind, that someone was me.”

Stiles looked down at his arm and lifted away the ice-pack. The wrist was swollen a little but he still had some movement in it, which was good. He looked up again when a small pot was suddenly held out to him. 

“Rub this on your arm, it will help to make the pain go away and reduce the swelling.” Deaton said. Stiles took the pot and looked at it, wrinkling his nose at the awful smell. It looked like ashes and talc mixed with egg-white, and he really didn’t want that on his skin. 

But Deaton was watching him expectantly and Derek still looked a little on edge. So Stiles carefully scooped out some of the paste and spread it over the worst of the swelling. He was stunned when it worked almost immediately – the pain drained away and by the time he had finished rubbing it in, his wrist was less swollen. 

“Wow, Doc, this stuff is like magic.” He said, turning the pot over for a label. 

“Not _like_ magic, Stiles. It _is_ magic – your spark. In the hands of a mundane, that would be nothing but foul smelling goop.”

Stiles looked up at the vet in shock. 

“My what?”

“Your spark. Your abilities. I knew your mother, you know, before… well. She had the spark, and lots of it. She was very strong in the Uncanny and would have made a good Emissary in another life. It looks like you’ve inherited her gifts.” He turned Stiles’ wrist over gently. “Yes, a very strong presentation of the spark, especially for someone who is untrained. And I have no doubts that you are a latent Guide.”

“My mother wanted nothing to do with being an Emissary or her gifts.” Stiles said, refusing to even consider the rest of what Deaton had said. Deaton nodded, but he didn’t look like he was actually agreeing. 

“Do you think she didn’t want anything to do with the Uncanny? Or was it just that she didn’t want to be Peter Hale’s Guide?”


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are a two things that may squick and/or trigger you in this fic, please be aware of them before you decide to read on:  
> 1: There is some discussion of previous stalker behaviour although nothing happens in this fic.   
> 2: There is discussion of a relationship between a 17 year old and a 22 year old. There is no actual relationship between them, more a promise of one to come. I do not consider this underage because there is no relationship here and there is no sexual contact.

Stiles curled up on his bed, staring at a photo of his mother. Her loss, her absence, still felt like a gaping hole in his life, and every day he found one more thing he wished he could talk to her about. 

But never more than he felt today. He had known, in the distant sort of way that children knew of things that happened to their parents but weren’t about them, that his mother had been a Guide. He’d been aware of Peter Hale as a friend of his parents and he had known, theoretically, that Peter had believed Claudia Stilinski was his Guide. 

His parents had met when they were nineteen, fresh out of school and full of joy for the future. They had married young, and had a baby before they were twenty-three. His mother had always had the spark – the ability of a mundane to handle the tools and powers of the Uncanny – but she had eschewed the potential of being an Emissary or in some other way using her ability to increase her power and status. She had chosen her mundane husband and son. 

The full story of what had happened between her and the Hales wasn’t one Stiles was ever likely to truly know. What he did know was that shortly after Stiles’ fifth birthday, his mother had come online as a Guide. As an unbonded Guide, his mother was cossetted, protected, and offered anything she needed. It was likely part of the reason his father had been given the chance to earn the position of Sheriff. 

When Stiles was six, Peter Hale returned from University. Twenty three and flushed with the power of a Sentinel ‘wolf, he had taken one look at Claudia Stilinski and decided she was _his_ Guide. He had started out by getting involved with her life, getting to know Stiles. Befriending the family. Until the day he finally asked her to bond with him and she gently let him down.

Stiles doesn’t remember the incident that earned him the scars on his back and side. He remembers driving home from school in the car with his dad, remembers the sudden screech of tyres and the sight of a grotesque half-man creature in the road ahead. 

He remembers his mother crying softly by his bedside when he woke in the hospital. 

“I barely knew my uncle.” Stiles jerked and flipped over, hand flying out to try to grab something to protect himself with. He wound up with a glass of water, panting heavily, staring at Derek Hale standing by his open window. 

“What?” He gasped. Derek slinked over and sat down at his computer desk. 

“I said I barely knew my Uncle. I knew of him, everyone did. But I was really young when he went to University and when he came back… well, he spent every second he could with…”

“With my mum.” Stiles finished flatly. He refused to hear the words ‘with his Guide’.

“Yes. I remember that he was funny, in a sarcastic way, but he liked to play pranks.”

“I don’t know… I don’t know what happened to him after…”

“When your mother refused to bond with him, he had a psychotic break. He tried to kill you and your father because he blamed you for your mother’s refusal. My mother had him watched, because she was concerned by his reaction, and she got there in time… before he killed you. He turned on her, and she killed him.”

“He tried to kill his Alpha Prime?” 

“He was crazy.” Stiles nodded, and carefully dried away his tears. He sniffed a little.

“It wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t. She never wanted to be a Guide, or to have the spark.”

“That’s not true.” Derek said softly. “I didn’t get to know Peter well, but I knew your mother, before her illness. She came to Pack meetings sometimes, and she spent time with the kids in the Pack. She loved her abilities. She used to say that you and your dad never had to tell her you loved her, because she could feel you with her every day. She used to say that her spark let her feel nature at her finger-tips, and it made the whole world sing like magic.”

“I… I remember her saying that.” Stiles whispered. “I can’t believe I ever forgot.”

“Your mother’s abilities were a gift. She didn’t want the position society offered her, and that’s fine, she had the right to chose her own life. But she respected her gifts, every day of her life.”

Stiles stifled a sob, and suddenly felt warm arms wrapped around him. He pressed his face into a warm, slightly spicy-smelling chest and took the comfort Derek was offering. Somewhere between one stifled sob and the next, Stiles fell asleep. 

* * * * * 

Derek was still there when Stiles woke up. He had settled them both more comfortably on the bed, and was reading a book with one hand, the other was wrapped around Stiles and holding him gently in place. He had taken his leather jacket off, so Stiles’ cheek was resting against a surprisingly soft grey top. Stiles felt a low hum of comfort around him, a sensation he had always associated with his mother.

“Whssa?” He mumbled, rubbing his cheek against the fabric. Derek rumbled back at him. 

“Do I want to know what’s going on here?” His dad’s voice asked dryly from the doorway area. Stiles blinked his eyes open and popped his head up to look, too comfortable to jerk up like he normally would. 

“I was just keeping Stiles company, Sheriff.” Derek replied calmly, setting Stiles’ book aside. Stiles grumped but rolled away from him. His dad took his hand and helped him to his feet and away from the man in his bed. 

Stiles gasped softly as he felt a sudden and overwhelming sensation of love, tempered with amusement, concern and a twinge of loss. He was hugging his dad before he realised what was going on. 

“Stiles?” His dad asked, the concern increasing. Stiles stepped back, and reluctantly let go. The feelings faded gently. 

“Stiles is a latent Guide, Sheriff. I think he’s close to coming fully online, he has the spark and he is starting to show Guide gifts. I think his empathy is emerging, with touch at least.”

“Is that why…” Stiles wiggled his fingers. Derek raised an eyebrow, “I felt…” he blushed, unwilling to talk about the personal emotions he had felt. Somehow, he thought the look in Derek’s eyes was approval. 

“You’re feeling our emotions.” Derek said gently. “I think only when you’re touching, at the moment.” 

“I’m not online, am I?”

“Not yet. But your aura is getting… stronger, more attractive to the Sentinel in me. I think using your spark is accelerating your development.”

“I can’t stop it now, can I?” Stiles whispered. His dad cupped his shoulder gently (love and concern and _pride_ ) and shook his head. 

“Not now, Stiles. But you can learn to control it, or you can bond with a Sentinel and they will shield you.”

“Mum didn’t bond.” His dad physically flinched, and dropped into the computer chair. Stiles perched back on the bed beside Derek. 

“Your mum and I were married when she came online and we had you. She made her choice not to find an online Sentinel and bond with him. She decided to stay with me and wait… to see if I would come online as well.”

Stiles’ mouth dropped open in surprise. Derek, on to other hand, didn’t even twitch. 

“You’re a latent Sentinel?” He glared at Derek, “you _knew_?”

“Your mother and I didn’t know, when we got together. But we were both diagnosed as latent when she was pregnant with you. We thought that we were meant to be together, and we decided that if either of us came online we would wait to see if the other came online as well. And if it didn’t happen, for one or both of us, we were happy with that. But Stiles, your mother would never have wanted you to deny yourself anything. She was so proud of you, Stiles.”

Stiles nodded, but buried his head in his hands. This was all so complicated, all of a sudden. 

“Stiles,” Derek rumbled quietly. “If there’s anything I’ve learned from you in the last week or so, you’re determined, and you’re adaptable. I’m nowhere near as flexible as you are and I’ve been online and alone for a long time. You’ll cope, whatever you decide to do.”

Stiles grinned and glanced at Derek. “Thanks, Derek.” He blew out a breath and suddenly started giggling. “I can’t believe this, look at us! A week ago you were glaring at me and telling me to stay away from Scott and now I just went for a nap curled up in your arms. If we carry on like this, we’ll be bonded by this time next week!”

He meant it to be a joke, he really did, but in that instant he could see it happening. Stiles had been gone over Derek for years, and as an unbonded Guide, Sentinels would be drawn to him like moths to a flame. Derek was already tied to Stiles through Scott, and he needed a Guide. 

It tasted like ashes in his mouth suddenly: the thought that he could have Derek, but only because of his Guide abilities and Derek’s need. Not because of anything real. 

He realised that his face must have just done something painful-looking, because his dad was looking vaguely homicidal (wericidal? Lycanthropicital?) towards Derek. Derek’s mouth twisted, but suddenly he was _looking_ at Stiles. 

“I have an offer for you from Deaton.” Derek said, instead of anything in response to Stiles’ stupid comment. “He is willing to train you to use your spark, and teach you some things about being a Guide. You don’t have to become an Emissary if you get the training, and he can work around your school so you don’t have to miss out on your education.”

“That’s a really good offer, Stiles. You should take him up on that. Deaton is the one who trained your mother as well.”

Stiles swallowed and nodded. “Maybe I will then, soon.”

Derek nodded. “I’ll probably be back soon with an offer from my mother, once she’s decided what to offer you. An unbonded Guide is always invited into the Pack and given their protection.”

Stiles looked sideways at Derek. 

“You’re a bit of an idiot sometimes.” He said finally, “and you don’t always make the right decisions. Like trying to separate me and Scott.” He swallowed. “But your Pack are good people, and they are strong and safe. And that’s because of you. Erica told me that you were the one that suggested her for the bite in the first place, and stayed with her when the moons were hard. Isaac says he’s always been able to call you when he’s needed to, no matter where you were or what time it is. Boyd said they all _chose_ to be in your Pack when your mum told everyone she was going to give you one. You’re a better Pack Alpha than I think even you think you are. If your mum is going to make any kind of an offer… I’d like her to bear that in mind when she does it.”

Derek looked away from Stiles, the tips of his ears going pink. Stiles’ dad shifted uncomfortably, and moved to stand up and leave. Derek spoke before he had a chance. 

“I’m not going to offer to court you.” He said quietly. “Not yet, because I think at the moment you have a lot you need to sort out first. But once you’re comfortable with your Guide gifts, and you’ve made a decision about your future… whether you want to train with Deaton or not, whether you want to take my mum’s offer. Then, when you’re ready, I will come back with an offer of my own for you to consider. Not because you’re a Guide, either.”

Derek frowned, and looked like he was struggling for a moment, before he carefully took Stiles’ hand in his own. 

It was overwhelming, for an instant. This wasn’t just a surface reading, this was… everything. Everything Derek was – his pride in his Pack, his love for his family, a strange deep fear and guilt that Stiles didn’t understand the source of. And everything he felt for Stiles – a mild irritation that blended seamlessly with amusement, respect, awe. A little mild envy. Attraction, an odd sort that was mostly physical but also emotional. A little hesitance, but a healthy dose of anticipation. A fledgling hope.

Suddenly, Stiles was certain that, when the time came, there was at least one offer he was certain of the answer to. He was patient, he could easily wait until Derek was ready.


End file.
